People who bought this also bought...

Even Money

On the first day of Royal Ascot, the crowd rejoices in a string of winning favorites. Ned Talbot has worked all his life as a bookmaker - taking over the family business from his grandfather - so he knows not to expect any sympathy from the punters as they count their winnings, and him his losses. He's seen the ups and downs before - but, as the big gambling conglomerates muscle in on small concerns like his, Ned wonders if it's worth it any more.

Silks

When defence barrister Geoffrey Mason hears the judge's verdict, he quietly hopes that a long and arduous custodial sentence will be handed down to his arrogant young client. That Julian Trent only receives eight years seems all too lenient. Little does Mason expect that he'll be looking Trent in the eyes again much sooner than he'd ever imagined.

Damage

Jeff Hinkley, undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority, is looking into the shady activities of a racehorse trainer. But as he's tailing his quarry through the Cheltenham Racing Festival, the last thing he expects to witness is a gruesome murder. Could it have something to do with the reason the trainer was banned in the first place - the administration of illegal drugs to his horses? Days later, many more horses test positive for prohibited stimulants.

Gamble

As one of the youngest ever winners of the Grand National, Nick 'Foxy' Foxton's career as a world-class jockey is on perfect track until a near-fatal accident cuts his dream brutally short. But when he returns to Aintree as a spectator years later, nothing can prepare him for what unfolds. Minutes before the biggest event on the racing calendar, Nick's affable American colleague Herb Kovak is shot at point-blank range, the gunman disappearing among the stunned crowd.

Dead Heat

The night before the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket sees the great and the good of the horse-racing community gathered for a prestigious black-tie Gala dinner. It is a fitting testament to the glamour of the occasion that top chef Max Moreton is cooking the evening's meal. Founder of the racing town's favourite Michelin-starred restaurant, the Hay Net, Max is something of a celebrity in Newmarket circles.

Longshot

John Kendall knows how to survive. He's written six handbooks on the subject. Now he wants to become a novelist, preferably without starving to death. But when cold and hunger set in, Kendall impulsively accepts an unlikely job. He is to research and write a biography of Tremayne Vickers, a famous racehorse trainer. Staying at Vickers' home in rural Berkshire, Kendall soon learns to like his host and friends, learns to ride racehorses, learns about murderers ...

Wild Horses

Once a blacksmith, now famous and respected as a newspaperman, Valentine Clark knows everyone who is anyone in the racing world. Aged, confused, blind and dying, he harbours a daunting secret that he is desperate to be rid of. He makes last confession to his visiting film-director friend, Thomas Lyon, whom in his delirium he mistakes for a priest.

Straight

Derek Franklin is an injured jockey. The last fence at Cheltenham has left him on crutches. But his brother's death means even bigger trouble. He inherits a jewellery business, a mistress - and some very shady business associates. Franklin likes to play things straight. But with £1.5 million in diamonds gone missing, he finds honesty can be a deadly virtue.

To the Hilt

Artist Alexander Kinloch has worked out a good pattern for his life. His home is a small bothy on a remote mountain in Scotland; he paints on commission, from which he derives both pleasure and a decent income; he lives alone and likes it. One day, however, Alexander's peace is violently shattered when he returns home to find a group of strangers waiting for him.

Odds Against

Amazing what bodily injury could do for a man. A fall from a racehorse had left brilliant jockey Sid Halley dangerously depressed, with a wrecked hand and the need for a new career. And now a bullet wound was helping him find one. He'd been with a detective agency since his racing accident, but it wasn't until some two-bit hoodlum drilled a slug into his side that he was sent out on a case of his own. That was where he met Zanna Martin, a woman who just might make life worth living again.

The Edge

To the Jockey Club, the racing world would be a better place without Julius Apollo Filmer. An expert in corruption with a devastating line in witness intimidation, and proving to be a slippery character to put behind bars. Baffled, they call in undercover security agent Tor Kelsey to keep an unflinching eye on Filmer and his associates. A mission that takes him from the finest of English racecourses to the wild Canadian interior, on a luxury transcontinental train journey to end them all.

Hot Money

Malcolm Pembroke never expected to make a million pounds without making enemies. Nor did he expect his latest wife to be brutally murdered. All the clues suggest the killer comes from close to home, but after five marriages and nine children, that still leaves the field wide open. When he find his own life in danger, Pembroke entrusts his safety to his estranged son, Ian, an amateur jockey; and through him discovers a compulsive new outlet for his financial expertise.

Bloodline

When Mark Shillingford commentates on a race in which his twin sister Clare, an accomplished and successful jockey, comes in third, he can't help but be suspicious. As a professional race-caller, he knows she should have won. Did she lose on purpose? Was the race fixed? Why on earth would she do something so out of character? That night, Mark confronts Clare with his suspicions, but she storms off after an explosive argument. It's the last time Mark sees her alive.

Decider

Free choice? There's no such thing, according to Lee Morris. Choice is pre-ordained by your personality. Stratton Park racecourse faces ruin in the hands of a squabbling family. Lee is slowly sucked into the turmoil, unwillingly on the surface but half-understanding the deep compulsions that influence his decisions. One road leads to safety, another to death. How do you know which is which?

Twice Shy

When physics teacher Jonathan Derry is unwittingly given some computer tapes containing a bookie-breaking betting system, his sharp-shooting abilities come in extremely handy against the thug who comes looking for them. Fourteen years later, Jonathan's brother William is about to fall victim to the same thug. But this time, William is determined to play a cautious and crafty game. After all, once bitten ...

Second Wind

Perry Stuart is a TV meteorologist who routinely works before the cameras. His life calm and ordered, his face familiar to every British household, Stuart's profound weather knowledge and accuracy have given him high status among forecasters, but no physical baptism by storm. Not, that is, until a fellow forecaster offers him a Caribbean hurricane-chasing ride in a small aeroplane.

10-lb Penalty

At nearly 18, easy-going Benedict Juliard has no stronger ambition than to ride in steeplechases as an amateur jockey. His father, George, driven towards a life of public service and politics, asks his son to enter into a pact that neither of them will commit any act that could destroy the father's growing reputation and career.

Proof

At an annual party to celebrate the success of the racing season, everything seemed to be running well to form, including the need for more champagne. Then a runaway horsebox ploughed into the marquee. A witness to the terrible death and destruction, wine merchant Tony Beach knows it is just one of those tragic accidents. But when his expert advice is called into play over sub-standard alcohol in a local night club, connections start to click, and another person dies, horribly.

Reflex

Jockey Philip Nore is no ordinary hero. When Nore began to suspect that a track photographer's fatal accident was really murder, he sets out to discover the truth and to trap the killer. Slowly, he unravels some nasty secrets involving corruption, blackmail and murder - and unwittingly sets himself up as the killer's next target.

Shattered

When jockey Martin Stukely dies following a fall in a steeplechase at Cheltenham races, he accidentally embroils his friend Gerard Logan in a perilous search for a stolen videotape. Gerard Logan is a glass-blower on the verge of widespread acclaim for his work. He has long been accustomed to the frightful dangers inherent in molten glass and maintaining a glass-making furnace, but now he is suddenly faced with a series of unexpected threats, first to his livelihood, then to his courage, and finally, to his life.

Banker

Tim Ekaterin's merchant bank, like all banks, only invests in sure things. Now he's about to involve it in ₤5 million of prime horseflesh, a stallion called Sandcastle. Top breeders reckon it's the safest bet in racing. But racing doesn't just attract the money men of the city. It's riddled with all kinds of dubious dealmakers. People who don't think twice about breaking bones. People to whom no bet is safe until it's paid in blood, Ekaterin's blood.

Blood Sport

Gene Hawkins, investigator by trade, was expert at arranging events so that they appeared accidental to all involved. Therefore, when he himself witnessed an 'accident' his curiosity flared up bright, and he insisted on looking into what he regarded as a work of art. A quarter of a million pounds worth of Derby-winning stallion had vanished into the Blue Grass of Kentucky... and a young man and a girl spent a dangerous afternoon in a punt on the River Thames.

Flying Finish

Henry Grey doesn't particularly care for having been born the heir to an earldom. he is a reserved young man whose greatest problem is his mother's match-making plots and whose greatest joy is to ride as an amateur steeplechase jockey. But on a sudden impulse, he throws in his respectable desk job to join a firm which transports racehorses all over the world.

For Kicks

When the horse that wins a race gallops in with frothing mouth and popping eyes, what is more natural than to suspect that someone¿s slipped a booster into his oats? With eleven steeplechasers hurtling over the finish line in this pepped up states and all the dope tests conclusively negative, the Earl of October had something of a problem if he wanted to preserve the health of his favorite sport.

Publisher's Summary

Captain Thomas Forsyth's second tour of Afghanistan is cut brutally short when he's badly wounded by a roadside bomb. Tom's world is torn apart by the injury - the Army is his life. The thought of never rejoining his regiment is a terrifying prospect and one that he is not willing to entertain.

Tom returns to Lambourn, to his childhood home, where his mother is a racehorse trainer and the 'First Lady' of racing. Never having seen eye to eye with his parents, Tom doesn't expect a hero's welcome - but even he's not prepared for the reception that awaits him.

When his mother's prize horse finishes a disappointing last place in a race he should have won, Tom discovers that the training business is on the edge, and facing a threat far more dangerous than a run of bad form. Tom finds himself on a very different, but just as deadly, battlefield where his military skills are tested ... kill or be killed?

I fully agree with Jane. Martin Jarvis's reading of this book was not enjoyable at all - I kept hearing 'William' of 'Just William' fame coming through. I'm normally a fan of Martin Jarvis but not in this case. He totally failed to capture the tone and character of Dick Francis's hero and spoiled the book for me. The story itself doesn't gallop along as other Francis's books do - lots of repetition that gives the distinct impression of 'padding' and a strong feeling that the author is NOT Dick Francis. If you love traditional Dick Francis you won't enjoy this. Don't buy this one and stick to Tony Britten's excellent narrations in future.

I have read, listened & loved Dick Francis books for many years. But this book read by Martin Jarvis is simply awful. It is clear that the book was NOT written by Dick Francis but by his son Felix. If I'd known I would never have bought the audio book. The reader is not up to the standard of Tony Britten who has narrated many of the Dick Francis books. Don't buy this if you are used the a better class of Dick Francis audio book!

I was curious as to whether this posthumous Dick Francis/Felix Francis book would be a good read. Sadly, it would be fine if you are interested in the army and its battles, rules and regulations. But even apart from that, my greatest problem, and the reason I only read three-quarters of the book was that the americanisms drove me to despair! Written by two Englismen,read by an Englishman, set in that most English of counties and yet we had 'parking lots', 'divided highways', etc all the time. It bacame so distracting that, for the first time ever, I did not finish my favourite author's latest book. Shame on the editors for not spotting it. When I read books written by Americans and/or set in the USA I expect American language. I have all his books, and have read and re-read them all, but that is the last I shall read, don't waste your money on it.

If you leave a highly trained and motivated officer (even missing one leg) with time on his hand for 6 months, then drop a mystery on him with some very nasty people in the background, thing are likely to get out of hand! When he gets introduced to torture (the receiving end) it's just his traning that keeps things from going over the top as well as allowing things to get a little out of hand.

The usually hugely enjoyable D Francis fails in this yawner of a novel. All I'm going to add (which anyone who listens should appreciate) is that if the hero used, or said he was going to use, or said he *had* used, his "Voice of Command" one more time, I'd have locked him in the damn stable myself. Oops, spoiler alert. I think he used it 10 times in the last chapter alone, and fat lot of good it did him.

Martin Jarvis, as always, is a pleasure to listen to, even in this snoozefest.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Tracey

craigmore, Australia

04/07/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"caught in a crossfire"

Would you listen to Crossfire again? Why?

yes it was a good story

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

it was a good read story was interresting good plot

What about Martin Jarvis’s performance did you like?

yes he is a good reader story is interesting

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

it was that sort of book when you get into it you get hooked

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Nicole

Eindhoven, Netherlands

05/11/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"perfect read, real 'Francis'"

What did you like about this audiobook?

Great storyline, real Francis (father and son this time) all the way

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

Nothing, he did it justice and improved my level of entertainment

Do you have any additional comments?

Must listen and read

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

NWT Lady

16/10/11

Overall

Performance

Story

"Excellent story, poor narrator"

Dick Francis delivers his usual excellence in murder mysteries, but Martin Jarvis does not hold a candle to Tony Britton in his narration. The nasal voice is not pleasant to listen to, and he doesn't distinguish characters very well. The emotion/inflection you would expect in most passages is off. Plus, the female characters tend to sound irritated and impatient, even when they are flirting, which is ridiculous. Unfortunately the performance detracts from the enjoyment of the book, which is an excellent story with mouth-dropping surprises. If Felix Francis is to follow in his father's foorsteps, he needs to find a better narrator for the audio versions of his books.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Rosemary

10/10/11

Overall

Performance

Story

"Another Dick Franics Classic"

Another Dick Francis Classic. Great with a fast moving engaging plot, a page turner,a great companion for anyone.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Report Inappropriate Content

If you find this review inappropriate and think it should be removed from our site, let us know. This report will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.